The SpaceX Starship is being made from stainless steel. The skin will get too hot for paint. The stainless steel will have a mirror finish for maximum reflectivity.
It will require much less shielding.
The usable strength to weight ratio of full hard stainless steel at cryogenic temperatures is slightly better than carbon fiber and at high-temperature stainless steel is vastly better.
The hopper Starship will have three raptor engines.
Stainless Steel Starship pic.twitter.com/rRoiEKKrYc
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2018
Yes. Radically redesigned Raptor ready to fire next month.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 22, 2018
Usable strength/weight of full hard stainless at cryo is slightly better than carbon fiber, room temp is worse, high temp is vastly better
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2018
Yes, full flow, gas-gas, staged combustion. Will take us time to work up to 300 bar. That is a mad level.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 22, 2018
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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